Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) has a longer speech, but you can't be sure it's really her, and she may have been lying. Anyway, most of the running time is occupied by action sequences, chase sequences, motorcycle sequences,...

When Oscar-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter stepped out for a spot of shopping with partner Tim Burton, the first thing we thought was “Oh dear Lord, what IS she wearing?!” Bonham Carter is well known for her eccentric dress sense,...

Bonham Carter to play TV Blyton - The Press Association

Helena Bonham Carter, Jane Horrocks and Anne-Marie Duff will play the leading roles in three one-off films about the careers of British female icons Enid Blyton, Gracie Fields and Margot Fonteyn. The programmes will premiere this autumn in a special...

He'll be starring with Harry Potter co-star Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange). A new set photo, originally found on director Jonathan Lynn's website, shows Rupert with a beard and sitting at a table with the director and other actors....

Five New 'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' Behind The ... - Geeks of Doom

Based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk, the 1999 film Fight Club is the story of a man bored with his current life (Edward Norton) who finds a mysterious friend in Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and a strange relationship with Marla (Helena Bonham Carter)....

Terminator Salvation - Irish Times

The picture begins with a glum prologue, set contemporaneously, in which a pale, sickly Helena Bonham Carter puts a slightly ambiguous proposal to a jailed murderer named Marcus. When, back in the main body of the flick, Connor raids a Skynet base,...

Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter (born May 26, 1966) is an Oscar-nominated English actress. Bonham Carter made her screen debut in the K. M. Peyton film, A Pattern of Roses, before appearing in her first leading role in Lady Jane. She is best known for her portrayals of Lucy Honeychurch in the film A Room with a View, Marla Singer in the film Fight Club, Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, her Oscar-nominated performance as Kate Croy in The Wings of the Dove, her Golden Globe-nominated performance as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, as well as her other collaborations with Tim Burton, her domestic partner since 2001. Bonham Carter has recently signed on to star as the leading villain, Serena Kogen, opposite Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation, and the villainous Red Queen, alongside notable actors such as Anne Hathaway, Johnny Depp and Christopher Lee, in her partner Tim Burton's 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland.

Bonham Carter was born in Golders Green, London. Her mother, Elena (née Propper de Callejón), is a psychotherapist. Her father, Raymond Bonham Carter, was a merchant banker and the alternate UK director representing the Bank of England at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. during the 1960s; he came from a famous British political family, being the son of English Liberal politician Maurice Bonham Carter and renowned politician, orator and member of the House Of Lords, Violet Bonham Carter, whose father was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, H. H. Asquith (1908–1916). Helena Bonham Carter's maternal grandfather, Eduardo Propper de Callejón, was of half Spanish and half Jewish ancestry, and served as a diplomat and former Minister-Counsellor at the Spanish Embassy in Washington, D.C. Bonham Carter's Jewish maternal grandmother, Hélène Fould-Springer, was the daughter of Baron Eugène Fould-Springer (a French-born banker), and Marie Cecile Von Springer (whose father was the industrialist Baron Gustav Springer). Hélène Fould-Springer's sister was the French philanthropist Liliane de Rothschild (1916–2003), the wife of Baron Élie de Rothschild, and her other sister, Therese Fould-Springer, was the mother of British writer David Pryce-Jones.

Bonham Carter has two brothers, Edward and Thomas, and is a distant cousin of fellow actor Crispin Bonham-Carter, who played Mr. Bingley in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, and Jane Bonham Carter, the Baroness of Yarnbury. Bonham Carter is also distantly related to Admiral Stuart Bonham Carter, Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels (through marriage), and is the grand-niece of legendary English director of such classics as Carrington VC and The Importance Of Being Earnest, Anthony Asquith. Bonham Carter was educated at the South Hampstead High School, a girls' independent school in Hampstead, London and later at Westminster School, a co-educational independent school near the Palace of Westminster. Bonham Carter was denied admission to King's College, Cambridge University, not because of her grades or her test scores, but because school officials were afraid that she would leave mid-term to pursue her acting career. Because of Cambridge's rejection, Bonham Carter decided to concentrate fully on acting.

When Bonham Carter was just 5, her mother had a serious nervous breakdown, from which it took her three years to recover. Upon her recovery, her experience in therapy led her to become a psychotherapist herself — Bonham Carter now pays her to read her scripts and deliver her opinion of the characters' psychological motivations. Five years after her mother's recovery, there was a more terrible familial blow. While holidaying in Greece, her father went deaf in one ear. He was diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, and a routine operation was carried out to remove the benign tumour. It went badly wrong. After 9 hours in surgery, Raymond, only 50 years of age, had a stroke that left him half-paralysed and confined to a wheelchair. With her two older brothers (both now bankers) at college, Bonham Carter was left to help her mother cope. She would later study her father's movements and mannerisms for her role in The Theory of Flight.

Bonham Carter has not received any formal training in acting. In 1979, she won a national writing contest and used the money won to pay for her entry into the actors directory 'Spotlight'. She made her professional acting début at the age of 16, in a television commercial. She also had a part in a minor TV film A Pattern of Roses (1983). Her first starring film role was in Lady Jane (1984, released 1986) which had mixed reviews. She also played another Queen of England when she was cast as Anne Boleyn in the ITV1 mini-series Henry VIII, her role was however restricted as she was pregnant with her first child at the time of filming. Her breakthrough performance was in the role of Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View (1985, released 1986) which was filmed after Lady Jane, but released first. Bonham Carter also appeared in episodes of Miami Vice as Don Johnson's love interest during the 1986–87 season. Bonham Carter auditioned for the role of Nancy Spungen in Sid and Nancy (1986), however she lost out to Chloe Webb, and also turned down the role of Bess McNeill in Breaking the Waves (1996) due to the sexual content. The role went to Emily Watson who was nominated for an Academy Award for the role.

These early films led to her being typecast as a "corset queen", and "English rose," playing pre- and early 20th century characters, particularly in Merchant-Ivory films. She expanded her range,; her more recent films are Fight Club, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Big Fish, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She also speaks French fluently, starring in a 1996 French film Portraits chinois. In August 2001, she was featured in Maxim. Bonham Carter was a member of the jury at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival that unanimously selected The Wind That Shakes the Barley as the best film.

Bonham Carter played Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was released in 2007. She will continue her role as Bellatrix Lestrange in the sixth and possibly seventh film adaptations, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bonham Carter received positive reviews as Lestrange, described as a "shining but underused talent"; her character will re-appear in the final three movie adaptations of the six and seventh books. She then played Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd's (Johnny Depp) amorous accomplice in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The film was released on 21 December 2007 in the US and 25 January 2008 in the UK. Directed by Tim Burton, Bonham Carter received a Golden Globe nomination ("Best Actress - Comedy or Musical") for her performance, though she did not win. She also won the Best Actress award in the 2007 Evening Standard British Film Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Conversations With Other Women. Bonham Carter will also be appearing in the fourth Terminator film entitled Terminator Salvation. It is said that she will play a small but pivotal role, but will be the lead villain of the film.

In May 2006, Bonham Carter launched her own fashion line, "The Pantaloonies," with swimwear designer Samantha Sage. Their first collection, called Bloomin' Bloomers, is a Victorian style selection of camisoles, mop caps and bloomers. The duo are now working on Pantaloonies customized jeans which Bonham Carter describes as "a kind of scrapbook on the bum". Bonham Carter also planned to return to the West End with an appearance in "Rubenstein's Kiss;" however, the play was delayed because of her busy schedule. The production, also set to star Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet fame, was due to open in November 2004 but has now been postponed.

In September 2008, Wild Target director, Jonathan Lynn, confirmed in an email to a fansite, that Bonham Carter had in fact had to drop out of his film due to filming difficulties. He then went on to say that she had joined the cast of partner Tim Burton's 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland. Bonham Carter's role has now been confirmed, and it is The Red Queen. Bonham Carter will be appearing alongside various big names such as Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman. Bonham Carter and Hathaway will be playing the two dualing sisters, the Red and White Queens, respectively. Bonham Carter's role consists of two merged roles, The Queen of Hearts, and The Red Queen. In early 2009 Bonham Carter was named one of The Times newspaper's top 10 British Actresses of all-time. Bonham Carter appeared on the list alongside fellow British actresses, Julie Andrews, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench and Audrey Hepburn.

Bonham Carter recently signed on to play renowned author Enid Blyton in upcoming BBC Four telelvision biopic, Enid Blyton (working title), depeciting her life. It will be the first ever adaptation of Blyton's life onto the screen, and Bonham Carter hopes to "do her justice". Filming will begin the week beginning 9th March 2009 London and Surrey, and the movie will be aired on BBC Four later this year. Bonham Carter will be starring alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Denis Lawson.

In October 2001, she began her current relationship with director Tim Burton (while he was engaged to and living with actress Lisa Marie, who was also Burton collaborator and co-producer), whom she met while filming Planet of the Apes. Burton has taken to casting Bonham Carter in his movies, including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. They live in Belsize Park, London, in adjoining houses with a connecting hallway, each part decorated and styled to suit their own personalities, because they felt they couldn't live 'together' but didn't want to live apart.

They purchased the house when she became pregnant with the couple's first child, son Billy Ray Burton, who was born on 4 October 2003. The couple maintain a close relationship with actor Johnny Depp, who regularly appears in most of Burton's films. Depp is also Billy Ray's godfather, accepting the job after Burton persuaded Bonham Carter to ask him. At age 41, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Nell Burton, on 15 December 2007 in Central London. She says she named her daughter Nell after all the "Helens" in her family lineage. In August 2008, four of her relatives were killed in a safari bus crash in South Africa, she was given indefinite leave from filming Terminator Salvation, and returned later on to complete the rest of her filming.

In December 2008, Bonham Carter lent her voice to a MTV domestic violence public service announcement, reciting a passage about love from the book of Corinthians in the Bible. The 60-second commercial features a dysfunctional couple in a domestic environment. No dialogue is heard — only accompanying music and Bonham Carter's voice. Bonham Carter recorded her vocal in a single take for the ad, which aired on December 2, 2008. The ad will air across MTV in the UK and across Europe as part of MTV's Staying Alive campaign. MTV will also make the ad available online and is considering running it in cinemas.

Early 2009, Bonham Carter joined fellow Hollywood A-listers Ewan McGregor, Kate Winslet, Liam Neeson, Helen Mirren and more, leaving the imprint of her lips on a card and signing it. The kiss prints, which are featured in the window of Newcastle’s famous Fenwick store, will now be auctioned off for charity.

Planet of the Apes (2001 film)

Planet of the Apes is a 2001 science fiction film and remake of the 1968 film of the same name. Tim Burton directed the film, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti and Estella Warren. Planet of the Apes tells the story of astronaut Leo Davidson landing on a planet inhabited by intelligent humanoid apes. The apes treat humans as slaves, but with the help of a female ape named Ari, Leo starts a rebellion.

Development for a remake of Planet of the Apes started as far back as 1988 with Adam Rifkin. Rifkin's project almost commenced pre-production before it was canceled. Terry Hayes' script titled Return of the Apes had Oliver Stone, Don Murphy and Jane Hamsher as producers and Phillip Noyce as director with Arnold Schwarzenegger set to star. Creative differences ensued between Hayes and financier/distributor 20th Century Fox. Chris Columbus, Sam Hamm, James Cameron, Peter Jackson and the Hughes Brothers later became involved.

With William Broyles Jr.'s script, Tim Burton was hired as director, and the film was put into active development. Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal rewrote the script, and filming took place from November 2000 to April 2001. Planet of the Apes was released to generally negative reviews, but was a financial success. Much criticism focused on the confusing ending, although Rick Baker's prosthetic makeup designs were praised. Despite its financial success, Fox chose not to produce a sequel.

In the year 2029, aboard the United States Air Force space station Oberon, Leo Davidson works closely with primates who are trained for space missions. His favorite simian co-worker is a chimpanzee named Pericles. With a fatal electromagnetic storm approaching the station, a small space pod piloted by Pericles is used to probe the storm. Pericles' pod heads into the storm and disappears. Against his orders, Leo takes a second pod and goes in pursuit of Pericles. Entering the storm, Leo loses contact with the Oberon and crashes in a world in the year 3002. He comes across a world where humanoid apes speak human language and control human beings as slaves.

Leo comes across a female chimpanzee named Ari, who protests the awful treatment humans receive. Ari decides to buy Leo and a female slave named Daena to have them work as servants in the house of her father, Senator Sandar. Leo escapes his cage and frees other humans. Ari sees them, but Leo manages to convince Ari to join their cause. Leo forms a human rebellion against the apes and develops a love triangle with Ari and Daena. General Thade and Colonel Attar march ape warriors in pursuit of the humans. Leo discovers Calima (the temple of "Semos"), a forbidden but holy site for the apes. Calima turns out to be the remains of the Oberon, his former space station, which has crashed on the planet's surface and looks ancient (the name Calima coming from the sign "CAution LIve aniMAls", the letters Calima being those not covered in dust). According to the computer logs, the station has been there for thousands of years. Leo deduces that when he entered the vortex he was pushed forward in time, while the Oberon, searching after him, was not, crashing on the planet long before he did.

The Oberon's log reveals that the apes on board, led by Semos, organized a mutiny and took control of the vessel after it crashed. The human and ape survivors of the struggle left the ship and their descendants are the people Leo has encountered since landing. A battle ensues between the humans and the apes. A familiar vehicle descends from the sky and is identified immediately by Leo. It is the pod piloted by Pericles, the chimp astronaut. Pericles was pushed forward in time as Leo was, and had just now found his way to the planet. When Pericles lands, the apes interpret his landing as the return arrival of Semos, the first ape, who is their god. They bow, and hostilities between humans and apes disappear.

General Thade chases Leo into the Oberon, where he attacks Pericles and breaks his leg. Thade becomes trapped in the pilot's deck and last seen huddled under a control panel, still alive. Leo decides it is time for him to leave the Planet of the Apes, after he says goodbye to Daena, who loves him and kisses Ari. Leo climbs aboard Pericles' pod, which is undamaged, and uses it to travel back in time through the same electromagnetic storm. Leo crashes in what appears to be Washington, D.C. on Earth in 2001. He looks up to see the Lincoln Memorial is now a monument in honor of General Thade. A swarm of ape police officers descend on the confused Leo, who is left to wonder what Thade has done to this world.

The project was put on fast track and almost entered pre-production. Rick Baker was hired to design the prosthetic makeup with Danny Elfman composing the film score. Tom Cruise and Charlie Sheen were in contention for the lead role. "I can't accurately describe in words the utter euphoria I felt knowing that I, Adam Rifkin, was going to be resurrecting the Planet of the Apes. It all seemed too good to be true. I soon found out it was." Days before the film was to commence pre-production, new studio executives arrived at Fox, which caused creative differences between Rifkin and the studio. Rifkin was commissioned to rewrite the script through various drafts. The project was abandoned until Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh pitched their own idea, with the apes going through a renaissance. In the story, the ape government becomes concerned over the new art works, the humans are revolting and the liberal apes shelter a half-human, half-ape from the Gorillas. Roddy McDowall was enthusiastic about their proposal and agreed to play the Leonardo da Vinci type character they had written for him. However, the executive Jackson spoke to was not a fan of the series and seemingly unaware of McDowell's involvement in the series, and Jackson turned his attention back to Heavenly Creatures.

Stone brought Terry Hayes to write the screenplay entitled Return of the Apes. Set in the near future, a plague is making humans extinct. Geneticist Will Robinson discovers the plague is a genetic time bomb embedded in the Stone Age. He time travels with a pregnant colleague named Billie Rae Diamond to a time when Palaeolithic humans were at war for the future of the planet with highly-evolved apes. Robinson and Billie Rae discover a young human girl named Aiv (pronounced Eve) to be the next step in evolution. They protect her from the virus, thus ensuring the survival of the human race 102,000 years later. Billie Rae gives birth to a baby boy named Adam.

Fox president Peter Chernin called Return of the Apes "one of the best scripts I ever read". Chernin was hoping Hayes' script would create a franchise that included sequels, spin-off television shows and merchandise. In March 1994, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed on as Will Robinson with the condition he had approval of director. Chuck Russell was considered as a possible director before Phillip Noyce was hired in January 1995, while pre-production was nearly commencing with a $100 million budget. Stone first approached Rick Baker, who worked on Adam Rifkin's failed remake, to design the prosthetic makeup, but eventually hired Stan Winston.

Fox became frustrated by the distance between their approach and Hayes' interpretation of Stone's ideas, as producer Don Murphy put it, "Terry wrote a Terminator and Fox wanted The Flintstones". Fox studio executive Dylan Sellers felt the script could be improved by comedy. "What if Robinson finds himself in Ape land and the Apes are trying to play baseball? But they're missing one element, like the pitcher or something." Sellers continued. "Robinson knows what they're missing and he shows them, and they all start playing." Sellers refused to give up his baseball scene, and when Hayes turned in the next script, sans baseball, Sellers fired him. Dissatisfied with Sellers' decision to fire Hayes, Noyce left Return of the Apes in February 1995 to work on The Saint.

Hamm's script had an ape astronaut from another planet crash-landing in New York harbor, launching a virus that will make human beings extinct. Dr. Susan Landis, who works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Alexander Troy, an Area 51 scientist, use the ape's spacecraft to return to the virus' planet of origin, hoping to find an antidote. They find an urban environment where apes armed with heavy weapons hunt humans. Landis and Troy discover the antidote and return to Earth, only to find in their 74-year absence that apes have taken over the planet. "The Statue of Liberty's once proud porcelain features have been crudely chiseled into the grotesque likeness of a great grinning ape".

Arnold Schwarzenegger remained attached, but Fox had mixed emotions with Hamm's script. When Columbus dropped out in late-1995 to work on Jingle All the Way, Fox offered the director's position to Roland Emmerich in January 1996. James Cameron was in talks during the filming of Titanic as writer and producer. Cameron's version would have drawn elements from the original film and its sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes. After the financial and critical success of Titanic, Cameron dropped out. After learning about his previous involvement, Chernin and Rothman met with Peter Jackson to learn about his original renaissance idea. Jackson turned down directing the film with Schwarzenegger and Cameron as his producer, recognizing they would probably conflict over the direction. Schwarzenegger left to work on Eraser. Michael Bay then turned down the director's position. Jackson again turned down the project while facing the possible cancellation of The Lord of the Rings in 1998, because he was unenthusiastic following Roddy McDowall's death. In mid-1999, the Hughes Brothers were interested in directing but were committed to From Hell.

Under Burton's direction, Broyles wrote another draft, but his script was projected at a $200 million budget. Fox wanted to cut it to $100 million. In August 2000, two months before principal photography, Fox brought Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal for rewrites. Broyles "had a lot of respect with the work they did. And to think that given what I'd done and given what Tim wanted, they navigated the right course." One of the considered endings had Leo Davidson crash-landing at Yankee Stadium, witnessing apes playing baseball. Various alternatives were considered before the filmmakers decided on the final one. The production of Planet of the Apes was a difficult experience for Burton. This was largely contributed by Fox's adamant release date (July 2001), which meant that everything from pre-production to editing and visual effects work was rushed.

Burton wanted to begin filming in October 2000, but it was pushed to November 6, 2000 and ended in April 2001. Filming for Planet of the Apes began at Lake Powell, where parts of the original film were shot. Due to a local drought, production crews had to pump in extra water. The film was mostly shot at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, while other filming locations included lava plains in Hawaii and Trona Pinnacles at Ridgecrest To preserve secrecy, the shooting script did not include the ending. Stan Winston was the original makeup designer but left because of creative differences. Fox considered using computer-generated imagery to create the apes, but Burton insisted on using prosthetic makeup designed by Rick Baker. Baker was previously involved with Adam Rifkin's unproduced remake. Burton commented, "I have a relationship with both of them , so that decision was hard," he says. "Stan worked on Edward Scissorhands and Baker did Martin Landau's makeup .

On his hiring, Baker explained, "I did the Dino De Laurentiis version of King Kong in 1976 and was always disappointed because I wasn't able to do it as realistically as I wanted. I thought Apes would be a good way to make up for that." In addition to King Kong, Baker previously worked with designing ape makeup on Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey and Mighty Joe Young. The makeup took 4.5 hours to apply and 1.5 hours to remove. Burton explained, "it's like going to the dentistry at two in the morning and having people poke at you for hours. Then you wear an ape costume until nine at night." Burton was adamant that the apes should be substantially "more animal-like; flying through trees, climb walls, swing out of windows, and go ape shit when angry." For a month and a half before shooting started, the actors who portrayed apes attended "ape school". Industrial Light & Magic, Rhythm and Hues Studios and Animal Logic were commissioned for the visual effects sequences. Rick Heinrichs served as the production designer and Colleen Atwood did costume design.

To compose the film score, Burton hired regular collaborator Danny Elfman. Elfman had previously been set as composer when Adam Rifkin was to do his remake in 1989 Elfman noted that his work on Planet of the Apes contained more Percussion instruments than usual.

To help market Planet of the Apes, Fox commissioned a internet marketing campaign that also involved geocaching. Hasbro released a toy line, while Dark Horse Comics published a comic book adaptation. Fox Interactive worked on a video game adaptation, but it was never finished and released. The original release date for the film was July 4, 2001. Planet of the Apes was released on July 27, 2001 in 3,500 theaters across North America, earning $68,532,960 in its opening weekend. This was the second-highest opening weekend of 2001, behind Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The film went on to gross $180,011,740 in North America and $182,200,000 in foreign countries, accumulating a worldwide total of $362,211,740. Planet of the Apes was considered a financial success since the film out-grossed its $100 million budget. Planet of the Apes was the tenth-highest grossing film in North America, and ninth-highest worldwide for 2001 totals. The film is the third-highest grossing science fiction remake, behind War of the Worlds and I Am Legend.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times believed "the actors in the nonhuman roles are mostly too buried by makeup to make strong impressions. Unfortunately, none of the good work counts as much as you'd think it would," Turan said. "Planet of the Apes shows that taking material too seriously can be as much of a handicap as not taking it seriously at all." James Berardinelli gave positive feedback towards the acting performances. However, Berardinelli felt "this version could have bettered its predecessor. As it is, however, Burton's film is one more disappointment in a summer of lackluster blockbusters." Elvis Mitchell gave a positive reviews, feeling the script was balanced and the film served its right as "pure entertainment". Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today enjoyed Planet of the Apes, feeling most of the credit should go to prosthetic makeup designer Rick Baker.

Much criticism drew against the confusing ending. Tim Roth, who portrayed General Thade, said "I cannot explain that ending. I have seen it twice and I don't understand anything." Helena Bonham Carter, who played Ari, said "I thought it made sense, kind of. I don't understand why everyone went, 'Huh?' It's all a time warp thing. He's gone back and he realizes Thade's beat him there." Burton claimed the ending was not supposed to make any sense, but it was more of a cliffhanger to be explained in a possible sequel. "It was a reasonable cliffhanger that could be used in case Fox or another filmmaker wanted to do another movie," he explained. Roth (Supporting Actor), Carter (Supporting Actress), Colleen Atwood (Costume) and Rick Baker (Make-up) received nominations at the Saturn Awards. Atwood and Baker were nominated at the 55th British Academy Film Awards. while music composer Danny Elfman was nominated for his work at the 43rd Grammy Awards. Planet of the Apes won Worst Remake at the 22nd Golden Raspberry Awards, while Heston (Worst Supporting Actor) and Estella Warren (Worst Supporting Actress) also won awards.

Fox stated that if Planet of the Apes was a financial success, then a sequel would be commissioned. Although the film was indeed a financial success, Fox decided otherwise. When asked whether he would be interested in working on a follow-up, director Tim Burton replied, "I'd rather jump out a window". Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter would have liked to return if Burton would have. Paul Giamatti had been interested in reprising his role. "I think it'd be great to have apes driving cars, smoking cigars," Giamatti continued "wearing glasses, sitting in a board room, stuff like that." Planet of the Apes was the last film Burton worked with his former fiancée Lisa Marie. After their relationship breakup, Burton met Helena Bonham Carter, who portrayed Ari. Planet of the Apes was also Burton's first collaboration with producer Richard D. Zanuck.

Novocaine (film)

Novocaine is a 2001 film written and directed by David Atkins and starring Steve Martin, Helena Bonham Carter, Laura Dern, Lynne Thigpen and Elias Koteas.

The film was shot in the Chicago, Illinois area, during a limited 32-day schedule. The film received extra publicity during production and as its release approached because of an off-the-screen romance between Martin and Carter.

The movie starts out with shots of "jaws in action" (talking, eating etc.), as would be seen on x-rays. Frank Sangster (Steve Martin) is a prosperous dentist with a loving hygenist-fianceé, Jean (Laura Dern). After an exhibit of his life running smoothly, Susan Ivey (Helena Bonham Carter) shows up with a tooth in need of a root canal. He gives her some Ibuprofen for the pain but she claims that she is allergic. She asks for a prescription for the addictive pain-killer, Demerol and surprisingly, she gets a prescription for 5 tablets and an appointment for 7:30 A.M.

Later in the day, a pharmacist calls Dr. Sangster and asks him to verify if he had prescribed Demerol for Susan Ivey (not mentioning the amount). After Susan left the pharmacist, he said that "50 tabs is way over the limit." He doesn't tell the pharmacist that she changed the amount.

The next day, Susan arrives for her appointment at 7:30 P.M. and seduces the doctor into getting drunk and having sex with her.

Apparently, some time during the night, Susan steals all of Dr. Sangster's narcotics because the next day, there is a man at the office from the Drug Enforcement Administration talking about an 18 year old who drove a car off a cliff under the influence of Dr. Sangster's bottle of cocaine hydrochloride. The man from the DEA wants to see Frank's narcotics supply, but knowing they had none left, he told them that they had been used up. The man from the DEA then wants to see the empty containers in 3 days or Dr. Sangster would get arrested.

That night he goes over to Susan's house and asks for the empty containers where he said he would call the police if he didn't get the containers. He is once again seduced into having sex with her.

That night, he goes to Susan's hotel room and sees someone in the bed and starts to talk to the nameless person. After the person wakes up, he sees that it is Duane who tries to strangle him. Dr. Sangster takes his scissors off of Duane's desk and stabs him in the hand. When Frank arrives home with Jean, he sees Duane dead on the floor. After the police arrive and depart, Frank tells Jean about the whole ordeal.

Meanwhile, everybody thinks Frank Sangster is dead because the teeth were found in the fire and the fire-proof camera caught Jean on tape shooting Harlan (who everybody thinks is Frank) in the head. She ends up going to prison for life.

Lady Jane (film)

Lady Jane is a 1986 British costume drama romance film directed by Trevor Nunn, written by David Edgar, and stars Helena Bonham Carter in the title role. It tells the story of Lady Jane Grey the Nine Days' Queen, on her reign and romance with husband Guilford Dudley. The film features several members of The Royal Shakespeare Company. It is mainly remembered as Helena Bonham Carter's first major film role.

The death of King Henry VIII throws his kingdom into chaos as his heir, Edward VI is not only under-age, but dying. Anticipating the young king's imminent death from consumption and anxious to keep England true to the Reformation by keeping the Catholic Mary from the throne, John Dudley, Lord President of the Council, second only to the king in power, marries his son Guilford to Lady Jane Grey and has the royal physician keep the young king alive — albeit in excruciating pain — long enough to get him to name Lady Jane his heir.

Jane is not happy with the proposed marriage, and must be forced into it through corporal punishment by her parents. At first Jane and Guilford decide to treat this purely as a marriage of convenience, but then they fall deeply in love. Jane is placed on the throne after Edward dies. She is troubled by the questionable legality of her accession; but, in consultation with Guilford, she turns the tables on John Dudley and the others who had thought to use her as a puppet.

After only nine days, however, Queen Jane is abandoned by her council precisely because of her reformist designs for the country. The council, then, goes over to Mary I of England, who at first imprisons Jane and Guilford. After Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, raises a rebellion to restore her to the throne, presumably in concert with Thomas Wyatt's rebellion. Mary finally has Jane, Jane's father, and Guilford executed.

Although the film is correct to portray Jane as a precocious and talented scholar, it contains a number of other historical inaccuracies.

In particular, it is believed that Jane and Guilford did not get on well with each other, and lived apart for most of their brief marriage. Jane returned to her parents' house after her marriage, and Guilford's mother came and forced her to leave after a few weeks. Jane refused to make her husband king when she was made queen, offering instead to make him a duke. Guilford then attempted to leave the castle, which Jane refused to allow because of the way it would look to the public.

Jane was not a social reformer during her reign as the film portrays her. Indeed, that type of social reform was not part of political thinking during the Tudor era.

Mary and Jane actually had a very good relationship; Indeed, Mary at first insisted that Jane not be executed. It was only after the revolt led by Jane's father the Duke of Suffolk (who did not do so in an attempt to save Jane but rather to stop Mary's marriage to Prince Philip of Spain) that Mary's advisers made it obvious that she was too much of a liability to be allowed to live. Mary sent her own confessor to try to convert her cousin to Catholicism.

There could also be a problem with the treatment of Jane's age. Her exact date of birth is uncertain, but she was popularly believed to be born in October 1537 (although recent research questions that assumption), which made her 15 at the time of her wedding and brief reign, and 16 when she was executed. In the beginning of the film she is described as just turned 16. Later, Jane and Guilford are shown in bed together and implied to be sexually active. (Bonham Carter was 18 when it was filmed.) It must be remembered that what we would now see as very early marriages were the rule rather than the exception among the nobility at that time, although these marriages were often unconsummated for several years.

Anne Hathaway (actress)

Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the 1999 television series Get Real, but her first prominent role was in Disney's family comedy The Princess Diaries (starring opposite Julie Andrews), which established her career.

She continued to appear in family films over the next three years, with lead roles in Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement in 2004. Hathaway would later venture away from the "G-rated" image her early acting career bestowed upon her, starring in the films Havoc and Brokeback Mountain. She later starred in The Devil Wears Prada, opposite Meryl Streep; Becoming Jane, in which she portrays Jane Austen, and Get Smart, opposite Steve Carell. In 2008 she earned widespread critical acclaim for her star turn in the film Rachel Getting Married, for which she won numerous awards, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Her acting style has been compared to that of Judy Garland and Audrey Hepburn and she cites Hepburn as her favorite actress and Streep as her idol. People magazine named her one of 2001's breakthrough stars, and in 2006, she was listed as one of the world’s 50 Most Beautiful People.

Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Gerald Hathaway, a lawyer, and Kate McCauley, an actress who inspired Hathaway to follow in her footsteps. The family moved to Millburn, New Jersey, when she was six years old. She has an older brother, Michael, and a younger brother, Thomas. Hathaway has mainly Irish and French ancestry, with more distant German and Native American roots.

Hathaway was raised a Catholic with what she considered "really strong values," and has stated she wanted to be a nun during her childhood. However, at the age of fifteen she decided not to become a nun after learning that her brother, Michael, is gay. Despite her Catholic upbringing, she felt that she could not be part of a religion that disapproved of her brother's sexual orientation. She has stated that she is a non-denominational Christian because she hasn't "found the religion" for her.

As a child, Hathaway was involved in a Montessori program as a preschooler and was then able to enter first grade while she was technically still a kindergartner. Hathaway graduated from Millburn High School where she participated in many school plays; her high school performance as Winifred in Once Upon a Mattress garnered her a New Jersey Rising Star Award nomination for Best Performance by a High School Actress. During this time, Hathaway was also involved in plays such as Jane Eyre and Gigi at New Jersey's Papermill Playhouse (which is located in Millburn, across the street from Hathaway's middle school). She spent several semesters studying as an English major and Women's Studies minor at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, before transferring to New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She referred to her college enrollment as one of her best decisions, because she enjoyed being with others who were trying to "grow up." Hathaway was a member of the Barrow Group Theater Company's acting program and was the first teenager ever admitted into the program. She is a trained stage actress and has stated that she prefers performing on stage to film roles.

A soprano, Hathaway performed in 1998 and 1999 with the All-Eastern U.S. High School Honors Chorus at Carnegie Hall and has performed in plays at Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, NJ. Three days after her 1999 performance at Carnegie Hall, she was cast in the short-lived Fox television series Get Real, at the age of sixteen.

Hathaway's first role in a motion picture was as Jean Sabin in The Other Side of Heaven, opposite Christopher Gorham. Before production of Heaven began in New Zealand, she auditioned for the lead role of Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries, directed by Garry Marshall. Hathaway auditioned for the role during a flight layover on the way to New Zealand and won the role after only one audition. Marshall claimed that he loved her immediately because she fell off her chair during the audition and believed her clumsiness would make her perfect for the role. (However, in a 2008 conversation with Steve Carell, Hathaway denied that she fell during this audition, although she openly admits to being a "klutz".) The Princess Diaries was released before The Other Side of Heaven in the hopes that its success would increase interest in Heaven. Across the world, The Princess Diaries was a commercial success, and a sequel was planned shortly after. Many critics praised Hathaway's performance in Diaries; a BBC critic noted that "Hathaway shines in the title role and generates great chemistry." The Other Side of Heaven was received weakly by critics, but it performed well for a religion-themed film.

In February 2002, Hathaway starred opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell in the City Center Encores! concert production of Carnival! in New York City, receiving positive reviews for her portrayal of Lili. Also in 2002, Hathaway began voicing the audio book releases of The Princess Diaries and has since voiced the first three books of the series. She also provided the voice of the character Haru in the English version of Hiroyuki Morita's The Cat Returns.

Hathaway continued to appear in family-oriented films over the next three years, subsequently becoming known in mainstream media as a children's role model. In 2002, she appeared in Nicholas Nickleby, opposite Charlie Hunnam and Jamie Bell, which opened to positive reviews. The Northwest Herald referred to it as "an unbelievably fun film," and the Deseret News said that the cast was "Oscar-worthy." Despite critical acclaim, the film never entered wide release and failed at the North American box office, totaling less than US$4-million in ticket sales.

Hathaway's next film role was as the titular character in Ella Enchanted (2004), the film adaptation of the novel, which opened to mostly indifferent reviews. Hathaway sang two songs in the film as well as three on the soundtrack.

In 2004, Hathaway was set to star opposite Gerard Butler in The Phantom of the Opera, but was forced to turn down the role because the production schedule of the film overlapped with that of The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which she was contractually obligated to make. Disney began production on The Princess Diaries 2 in early 2004, and it was released in August of that year. The film opened to negative reviews, but still managed to peak higher at the box office than its predecessor, commissioning $95.1-million against a $40-million budget.

Hathaway began appearing in more dramatic roles after The Princess Diaries 2. She said that "anybody who was a role model for children needs a reprieve," although she also noted that "it's lovely to think that my audience is growing up with me", a reference to her previous status as a children's actress. She voiced Little Red Riding Hood in Hoodwinked! (2005), which received generally positive reviews. That same year, Hathaway starred in the R-rated Havoc, in which she played a spoiled socialite. In a surprise move, Hathaway was featured in several nude and sexual scenes throughout the film. Although the content of the movie was radically different from her previous films, Hathaway denied that her role in the film was a blatant attempt to be seen as more of a mature actress, citing her belief that doing nudity in certain movies is merely a part of what her chosen form of art demands of her; and because of that belief she does not consider appearing nude in appropriate films to be morally objectionable.

After Havoc, Hathaway appeared opposite Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in the drama Brokeback Mountain, in a role that further displayed her development as a dramatic actor. Havoc was not released in theaters in the United States (but was later released in other countries) because of its weak critical reception, but Brokeback Mountain won rave reviews for its depiction of a homosexual relationship in the 1960s and received several Academy Award nominations. Hathaway would later assert that the content of Brokeback Mountain was more important than its award count and that making the film made her more aware of the kind of stories she wanted to tell as an actress.

Hathaway was next seen in the 2007 drama Becoming Jane, in which she portrayed English writer Jane Austen. Also in 2007, Hathaway performed a selection from the musical Saturday Night for Stephen Sondheim's 75th Birthday and ASCAP Foundation Concert.

Tim Burton considered Hathaway for the part of Johanna in his 2007 film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but the role went to Jayne Wisener, a then-unknown actress, reportedly because Burton decided he wanted an unknown actress for the part.

Hathaway's first film of 2008 was a modern adaptation of the 1960s Mel Brooks television series Get Smart, in which she starred opposite Steve Carell, Dwayne Johnson, and Alan Arkin. The film was a hit at the box office and received mostly positive reviews, prompting talk of a sequel. She also made a cameo appearance in the corresponding film Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control. In October 2008, she premiered the drama Passengers, alongside Patrick Wilson, as well as the drama Rachel Getting Married, opposite Debra Winger. Rachel Getting Married premiered at the 2008 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and garnered her widespread critical acclaim for her performance as Kym, including nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Hathaway stated that the film appealed to her because of its real depiction of relationships and because of the strong emotional connection she felt with her character.

Hathaway most recently appeared in the comedy Bride Wars, released on January 9, 2009, in which she starred opposite Kate Hudson. Hathaway has described the film as "hideously commercial – gloriously so." She appeared with Hudson on the February/March 2009 cover of Modern Bride despite her admission that she is "not the type of girl who dreams about her wedding." Her future film projects include a Tim Burton-directed adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, the romantic comedy The Fiancé, and an adaptation of the Julie Buxbaum novel The Opposite of Love. Hathaway is also set to return to the stage in the summer of 2009, appearing as Viola in an open-air production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which will be run at the Delacorte Theater in New York's Central Park.

In January 2008, Hathaway joined beauty giant Lancôme as the face of their fragrance Magnifique. In October of that year, Hathaway hosted Saturday Night Live, with musical guest The Killers.

Hathaway is scheduled to provide her voice in an episode of The Simpsons titled "The Good, the Sad and the Drugly", expected to air in 2009.

Hathaway is involved with various charities, including The Creative Coalition, The Step Up Women's Network, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Human Rights Campaign, and The Lollipop Theatre Network, an organization that screens films to critically ill children. In 2008, she was honored at Elle magazine's "Women in Hollywood" tribute, and has also been honored for her work with The Step Up Women's Network and The Human Rights Campaign.

In early 2007, Hathaway spoke of her experiences with depression during her teenage years, saying that she eventually overcame the disorder without medication.

In a fall 2008 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Hathaway noted that she had once again stopped smoking. The actress, who had begun smoking "heavily" while filming Rachel Getting Married, had "quit for a while", but had started again in the wake of her stressful summer and the end of her relationship with Raffaello Follieri. She credited the decline in her stress level to quitting smoking. She also declared her return to being a vegetarian.

As of November 2008, Hathaway is reportedly in a relationship with actor Adam Shulman.

In 2004, Hathaway began a relationship with Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri. During their relationship, Hathaway took part in the development of the charitable Follieri Foundation, serving as a financial donor as well as a member of the foundation's board of directors until 2007. A Manhattan-based charity founded in 2003 focusing on programs such as providing vaccinations for children in Third World nations, the organization had come under investigation in early June 2008 by the IRS, reportedly for failing to file tax papers required from non-profit organizations. Citing the fear that this and other ongoing legal issues involving Follieri would become detrimental to her acting career (as well as for her own ethical reasons), Hathaway ended her relationship with Follieri in mid-June 2008.

Follieri was arrested in June 2008 on fraud charges for allegedly fleecing investors out of millions of dollars in a scheme involving purchasing Catholic Church properties in the U.S. for redevelopment. Court papers state that Hathaway was an unwitting beneficiary of the stolen money, which had in large part paid for Follieri's opulent lifestyle of jet-setting, shopping sprees, and fine dining. It was reported that the FBI had confiscated Hathaway's private journals from Follieri's New York City apartment as part of their ongoing investigation into Follieri's activities; however, Hathaway was never implicated in any wrongdoing from the events.

In the October 2008 issue of W Magazine, Hathaway spoke for the first time of the break-up and Follieri's subsequent arrest. She related that she "spent a week in shock" after Follieri's arrest, and credited the kindness of friends for her ability to keep working during such difficult times.

Margaret's Museum

Margaret's Museum is a critically-acclaimed 1995 British-Canadian dark film drama, directed by Mort Ransen. Based on the novel The Glace Bay Miners' Museum written by Sheldon Currie.

Set in the 1940s in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, it tells the story of a young girl living in a coal mining town where the death of men from accidents in "the pit" (the mines) has become almost routine. Margaret MacNeil (Helena Bonham Carter) has already lost her father and an older brother and for her, life alone would be prefereable to marrying a mine worker — that is until the charming Neil Currie (Clive Russell) shows up. Against the wishes of her hard-bitten mother (Kate Nelligan) they marry, but before long financial woes lead to his doing what every other uneducated young man does in the town: take a job underground. His death in the mine drives Margaret to a mental breakdown and in her surreal world she decides to create a "special" museum to the memories of all those who have died as a result of the horrific mining conditions. The advent of the film inspired the organization PAMAUG, which strongly advocates the usage of means other than manual labor to extract coal from mines.

Alan Rickman

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born 21 February 1946) is an Emmy-, Golden Globe-, BAFTA- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning English film, television and stage actor.

He is perhaps best known to film audiences for his roles as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films. He also featured prominently as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 blockbuster, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. More recently, Rickman portrayed Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was born in Hammersmith, London to a working-class family, the son of Margaret Doreen Rose (née Bartlett), a housewife, and Bernard Rickman, a factory worker. Rickman's mother was Welsh and a Methodist and his father was of Irish Catholic background, He has one older brother David, a younger brother Michael and a younger sister Sheila. Rickman attended an infants school in Acton that followed the Montessori method of education. When he was eight his father died, leaving his mother to raise four children mostly alone. She married again, but divorced his stepfather after three years. "There was one love in her life," Rickman later said. Rickman excelled at calligraphy and watercolour painting, and from Derwentwater Junior School he won a scholarship to Latymer Upper School in London, where he started getting involved in drama. After graduating, Rickman attended Chelsea College of Art and Design and made his way as a graphic designer, which he considered a more stable occupation than acting. "Drama school wasn't considered the sensible thing to do at 18," he said. Rickman received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which he attended from 1972–1974. While there, he studied Shakespeare's works and supported himself working as a dresser for Sir Nigel Hawthorne and Sir Ralph Richardson, and left after winning several prizes such as the Emile Littler Prize, the Forbes Robertson Prize, and the Bancroft Gold Medal.

After graduating from the RADA, Rickman worked extensively with various British repertory and experimental theatre groups on productions including The Seagull and Snoo Wilson's The Grass Widow at the Royal Court Theatre, and has appeared three times at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1978, he played with the Court Drama Group, performing in several plays, most notably Romeo And Juliet and A View from the Bridge. While working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) he starred in, among other things, As You Like It. He would be the male lead in the 1985 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Christopher Hampton, which would be a sellout. When the show went across the Atlantic in 1986, Rickman went on with it to Broadway and there earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance.

While with the RSC he shared a house with fellow company member Ruby Wax. Rickman put her into writing comedy and proceeded to direct several of her successful shows. "If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work", he said.

To television audiences he also became known as Mr. Slope in the BBC's 1980s adaptation of Barchester Towers. He played future Irish Taoiseach and president Éamon de Valera in the film Michael Collins alongside Liam Neeson as the title character. While playing romantic leads in British movies (Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility; Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply), he was generally typecast in Hollywood films as an over-the-top villain (German terrorist Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). His role in Die Hard earned him a spot on the American Film Institute's list of the "100 Best Heroes/Villains" as the 46th best villain in film history. His performance of Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves also made him known as one of the best actors to portray a villain in films.

Rickman has also played comedic roles in films such as Galaxy Quest, Dogma, and Love Actually. He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his performance as Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny in 1996, and was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as Dr. Alfred Blalock in 2004's Something the Lord Made. He appeared in the Harry Potter films as the Potions professor Severus Snape. Rickman was cast in 2005 as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film. Coincidentally, Rickman and David Learner, who occupied Marvin's costume for the TV adaptation and stage shows, studied together at RADA. He was very busy in 2006 with Snow Cake (with Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss) which had its debut at the Berlinale, and also Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (with Dustin Hoffman), directed by Tom Tykwer.

Rickman has performed on stage in Noel Coward's romantic comedy Private Lives, which transferred to Broadway after its successful run in London at the Albery Theatre and ended in September 2002. Rickman had reunited with his Les Liaisons Dangereuses co-star Lindsay Duncan, and director Howard Davies for this Tony Award-winning production.

His previous stage performance was as Mark Antony, opposite Helen Mirren as Cleopatra, in the Royal National Theatre's production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre in London, which ran from 20 October to 3 December 1998. Before that, he performed in Yukio Ninagawa's Tango at the End of Winter in London's West End and the Riverside Studio production of Hamlet in 1991, directed by Robert Sturua. He directed The Winter Guest at London's Almeida Theatre in 1995. He also directed the film version in 1996 starring Emma Thompson and her real life mother Phyllida Law.

Rickman has also been featured in several musical works — most notably in a song composed by the English songwriter Adam Leonard. Moreover, the actor played a "Master of Ceremonies" part in announcing the various instruments in Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II on the track The Bell. Rickman was one of the many artists who recited Shakespearian sonnets on the 2002-released When Love Speaks CD, and is also featured prominently in a music video by the band Texas entitled In Demand, which premiered on Europe MTV in August 2000. In the video, lead singer Sharleen Spiteri danced the tango with Rickman: the clip was nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards.

Rickman directed the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie in April 2005 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and won the Theatre Goers' Choice Awards for best director. The production is based on the writings of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American woman who was killed on 16 March 2003 by an Israeli armored bulldozer. The show played at the West End's Playhouse Theatre in London from March to May 2006. The play also ran at both the Galway Arts Festival and the Edinburgh Festival in 2006.

In 1995 Rickman turned down the role of Alec Trevelyan in the 1995 James Bond film Goldeneye. Rickman has taken issue with being labeled as a "villain actor", citing the fact that he has not portrayed a stock villain character since the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991. He has further said that he has continued to portray characters of complex and varying emotions, and does not think it is fair to assign characters a label of good or evil, hero or villain. Prior to the book release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Rickman had spoken on occasion about Snape quite easily, but with the controversy of the character following the events of the sixth book, Rickman refused to speak on the character.

In 2007, Rickman appeared in the critically-acclaimed Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Tim Burton, alongside "Harry Potter" co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Timothy Spall; he played antagonist Judge Turpin. According to Miami Herald, Rickman's performance "makes the judge's villainy something to simultaneously savor and despise", with his "oozing moral rot and arrogance". Rickman will also be appearing in the upcoming 2010 Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.

Rickman was chosen by Empire as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (No 34) in 1995 and ranked No 59 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in October 1997. Rickman became Vice-Chairman of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2003. He was voted No 19 in Empire magazine's Greatest Living Movie Stars over the age of 50 and was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor (Play): in 1987 for Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and in 2002 for a revival of Noel Coward's Private Lives.